Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge Women, Crime and Criminal Justice -- 11. 4. 2012

1. Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK
Women, Crime and Criminal Justice
lrg10@cam.ac.uk
University of Maribor, ‘Out of the Box’ seminar 11th April, 2012

2. Women offenders…
1. Myths, muddles and misconceptions
2. What do we know about women’s needs?
What do we know about what works with
women offenders?
3. Is there justification for dealing with women
differently from men? What are the
implications of differentiated responses to
women and men?

3. ‘As a class, they are desperately wicked. As a class
deceitful, crafty, malicious, lewd and devoid of common
feeling…in the penal classes of the male prisons there
is not one man to match the worst inmate of our female
prisons. There are some women less easy to tame
than the creatures of the jungle, and one is almost
sceptical of believing that there was ever an innocent
childhood or better life belonging to them’
(From: A Prison Matron, 1862: 46)

4. Key themes: pathology, domesticity and respectability
 Women in the court room are ‘out of place’
 Farrington and Morris (1983) for men, nature of
offence more important; for women, family
background, ‘social problems’
 Influence of being a ‘good mother’ vs stepping
outside normal female roles i.e. sex role stereotypes
(women acting ‘in character’ and ‘out of character’)
 Carlen 1983: ‘if she’s a good mother we don’t want to
take her away. If she’s not a good mother it doesn’t
really matter’ (judge)

5. Women’s prisons:
‘Discipline, Infantalise, Medicalize and
Domesticize’ (Pat Carlen, 1985: 182)
‘…women’s family responsibilities and previous family
histories interact (variously) with dominant ideologies
about women’s place in the family and (contradictorily)
with the rigours of state punishment – to increase
several-fold the pains of penal incarceration’ (1998:82).

6. The treatment of women in the CJS
 Chivalry / leniency
 ‘Evil woman’ thesis – double punishment:
– Female offenders seen as ‘bad citizens and
unnatural women… perversions of normal
femininity’ (Carlen and Worrall 2004)
 Paternalism – leniency and harshness

7. Examples of research findings
 Moxon (1988): women less likely to receive a custodial
sentence i.e. leniency
 Daly (1989; 1994): men and women not sentenced
differently for like crimes; the family, rather than women
themselves, may be the beneficiaries of judicial
paternalism
 Hood (1992): women less likely to receive a custodial
sentence i.e. leniency
 Hedderman and Hough (1994): ‘the weight of evidence is
against [the] claim’ of discrimination against women
 cf. Studies which suggest ‘harshness’ towards women
(Edwards, 1984; Dominelli, 1986)

11. Source: Fawcett Society (2007) Women and Justice. Third Annual Review of the
Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System. London: The Fawcett Society.
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12. Trends regarding sentencing
 Increases in women’s crime? More serious offending?
 Changes in type of woman sentenced to imprisonment?
 Women being sentenced ‘more equally’?
 Increases in the length of sentences?
– The average sentence for women received into prison
from the Crown Court in 2002 was 25 months. In 1994 –
18.5 months. A slight increase (but sufficient to account
for the large increase re women in prison?)
– Magistrates’ Courts – average = no major change between
1994 and 2002 - from 2.3 months to 2.5 months
 A higher proportion being given custodial sentences? Some
uptariffing…
 Mainly less serious offenders being more harshly punished
than in the past, but short sentences i.e. more severe
sentences for less serious offences
 Perhaps also longer sentences for serious crimes (Hough et
al 2003)

13. A more recent study of sentencing:
 Understanding the sentencing of Women;
Hedderman & Gelsthorpe (1997)
 Study based on 3 samples of cases drawn
from the Offenders Index in 1991: 3,763
shoplifters, 6,547 violent offenders; 3,670
drug offenders; m and f ‘matched’ re
offences, offence seriousness, previous
convictions etc.
 Seeming reluctance to imprison women (in
some cases)…but complexities…

14. Research findings
 F shoplifters less likely to be fined.
 M and F - equal chance of being sent to prison for a first violent
offence (but not so among repeat offenders)
 Women first offenders re drugs less likely than men to receive a
prison sentence for drugs offences; but recidivists equally likely
to be sent to prison
 Among first and repeat offenders, women convicted of violence
and drugs offences were always more likely to be discharged,
and men more likely to be fined
 Reluctance to fine women (some – leniency (if discharged),
some – severity (if received a community penalty)

15. Hedderman & Gelsthorpe, Understanding the
Sentencing of Women 1997). Key findings:
 Nearly 200 interviews with magistrates in 5 different courts
(harsh/lenient towards women/men; no difference in
treatment)
 ‘Troubled’ or ‘troublesome’? Men less likely to be seen as
troubled, even in similar circumstances
 Body language and appearance
 Family responsibilities – for men as well as women
 Use of custody a last resort for women > men; women more
likely to be perceived as in need of help
 Fines seen as unsuitable for women caring for children without
independent means
 Support of family or long-term partners improved chances of
avoiding custody; likewise employment. Unemployment
perceived differently for men and women

16. Findings
“…a shoplifting woman would probably be a single mother without enough
money. A shoplifting man would very rarely be a single father without
enough money and kids yapping around – they would be lads out on the
town wanting to get a snappy pair of jeans…” (Mag. 12, Shelley court (F)
“There’s still something of the defence for sex, I’m afraid. And you really
wonder how the innocent-looking young lady in front of you, who’s
obviously been told by her solicitor to look as helpless as possible, could
possibly have undertaken the violent elements that are there.” (Mag. 3,
Hallam court (M))
“Think of them as greedy; needy or dotty.” (Group 3, Shelley court (F))
“…the women feed the family whereas the men, although they have to
support their family, don’t.” (Mag. 13, Byron court (F))

17. Women offenders’ needs: O-DEAT data
(2005; sample of 158,161 offenders) (NOMS data)
 39% victims of domestic violence
 33% accommodation needs
 32% misuse of drugs
 29% education and training needs
 28% financial needs
 24% misuse of alcohol
 16% particular needs re employment
 56% relationship problems (35% men)
 59% well-being needs (37% men)
(NOMS/NPS, 2006)

18. Women in Prison: basic facts
 The numbers of women in prison: 4,221 out
of 831,839 (November 2011) = 5%f , 95%m
 34% no previous convictions (15% for men)
 Only 38% of women receive a sentence of
over 6 months; few on life sentences (less
than 200); most sentenced to under 1 year
 29% from BME groups (around 10% foreign
nationals – mainly drug trafficking + fraud and
forgery, with long sentences)
 Widespread mental health problems (x5
national population), drug and substance
abuse

19. What do we know about women in prison?
 2008 data shows that of those women appearing at
the Magistrates’ Court who were remanded in
custody, 80 percent went on to receive a non-
custodial sentence or were acquitted (25% of men).
 3.2% of women assessed as high/very high risk of
serious harm to others in the community (11.4% of
men).

20. What do we know about women in prison?
– 29% report an alcohol problem and 30% report a drug
problem on arrival in prison
– Female prisoners who self-harm do so more frequently than
male prisoners (average 7 incidents for each female
prisoner self-harming compared to 3 incidents for each
male)
– 3 times the number of females self-harming per 1,000
prisoners compared to males (365 females compared to 68
males)
– 59% have problems with relationships (35% for men) which
may affect risk of reoffending

21. What do we know about women in prison?
 63% of women in prison for non-violent offences
 78% of women in prison exhibit some level of psychological
disturbance (compared with 15% in gen. pop)
 1in 4 women in prison has spent time in LA care as a child
 Over half the women in prison say they have been subject to
domestic violence and 1 in 3 sexual abuse
 Women prisoners often inadequately prepared for release
 Only 1/3 received help with help & advice about benefits and
debt
(All drawn from Ministry of Justice s. 95 statistics, the Prison Reform Trust,
& Social Exclusion Unit findings)

22.  The backgrounds and circumstances of
women’s lives are inseparable from their
involvement in crime. Like men, financial
difficulties & substance abuse often causes;
but also physical and sexual abuse
inextricable from crimes and reoffending
(Gelsthorpe and Sharpe 2007), plus
relationship problems, coercion by men.
 Around two-thirds of women in prison have
children (Home Office/ Social Exclusion Unit);
around one third are single parents; around
18,000 children are affected annually by the
imprisonment of mothers

23. SUMMARY: WOMEN OFFENDERS ENGLAND AND WALES:
The Case for a Different Approach
– Women tend to be in prison for non-violent, prolific
offences
– Most are in for short sentences
– Lower level Community Penalties + Higher proportion of
positive outcomes for women on Community Orders and
Suspended Sentence Orders (compared with outcomes for men)
- Victimisation -> psychological sequalae which can lead to
offending behaviour (Hollin and Palmer, 2006)
(Min of J s. 95 statistics)

24. What Works with women: Research evidence
 Women as ‘correctional afterthoughts’
 What works for men will work for women too (Cann,
2006 – ‘Enhanced Thinking Skills’)
 Worrall: ‘women who offend are not driven by
cognitive deficits’ (2002: 144)
 Martin, Kautt & Gelsthorpe (2009): gender
responsiveness in GOBP can have positive effect

25. What Works with women: Research evidence
 Different ways of learning and gender informed
responses
 Blanchette and Brown (2006) -> match treatment
style to learning style + (e.g. health care, child care
and mental health case specific factors to be
addressed for women)
 Gendered pathways, strengths-based approaches,
relational theory, positive psychology, trauma (see
Gelsthorpe, 2011)

26. The Corston Report (2007):
recommendations
 A Report of a Review on Women with Particular
Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System:
– ‘We must find better ways to keep out of prison those
women who pose no threat to society and to improve the
prison experience for those who do’
 Custodial sentences for women must be reserved for serious
and violent offenders who pose a threat to the public
 Women’s needs must be acknowledged at all levels of
sentencing and the penal system
 Should dismantle existing women’s prisons (within 10 years)
and replace with small, local multi-functional custodial
centres ‘for the minority of women from whom the public
requires protection’
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27. The Government’s response to
Corston
 On sentencing: sentencers to be better informed regarding what
is available for women in the community; promotion of
appropriateness and benefits of community sentences; use of
community order to be maximised
 A NOMS National Service Framework for Women (April 2008)
 Revised Guide Good Practice Guide on ‘Delivering Effective
Services for Women Offenders in the Community
 Examination and development of women’s centre provision in
the community
 Review of future of women’s custodial estate + gender specific
standards for women in prison (including design features)
 Health: offender health strategy; Minister from Health will sit on
IMGp for women; new strands on court diversion; more timely
psychiatric reports; NHS care in police stations
 NB. Resistance to the small residential unit idea…
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28. Women offenders in the community: 9 lessons
2. Be women-only;
3. Integrate offenders and non-offenders;
4. Foster women’s empowerment;
5. Utilise what is known about women’s effective learning styles;
6. Take a holistic and practical stance;
7. Facilitate links with mainstream agencies;
8. Allow women to return for ‘top ups’ of continued support;
9. Ensure that women have a supportive milieu or mentor;
10. Provide practical help with transport and childcare.
[Gelsthorpe, Sharpe and Roberts, 2007: Provision for Women
Offenders in the Community]

29. Equality as difference…
‘It should take account of the fact that women commit
less serious offences than men, they are less
dangerous, and the social costs of imprisonment are
higher than men’s and that differential treatment for
men and women within the penal system is
justifiable: ‘Equal treatment…does not mean identical
treatment, whether for women, or for members of
cultural or ethnic minorities’
(Prison Reform Trust, 2000: para 7.2).

30. Pause for thought…
 Unintended consequences of the ‘equal
but different’ movement ?
 What about the legitimacy of
sentencing?

31. Resolving difficulties…
 Beyond gender, justice, and difference: is there a
third way?
 Acknowledging difference and diversity in the form
(but not the amount/level of punishment…the
importance of desert). The rationale for
acknowledging diversity and difference: towards
citizenship (see Tyler Why People Obey the Law,
1991; Paternoster et al., ‘Factors which facilitate
legitimacy’, Law and Society Review 1997, 31,
pp163-204
– Representation, consistency, impartiality,
accuracy, correctability, ethicality